Oral health in adolescent girls of Vila Sabiá, in the municipality of Sorocaba, São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract

Adolescence comprises the period of life that extends from 10 to 19 years. It is a phase of deep biopsychosocial transformations. Because of this, it is common for adolescents to present negligent behaviors in relation to their health care, and this period is considered as an increased risk for the appearance of dental caries and other oral affections, due to the poor control of the plaque and less care with brushing. Objective: To promote an educational action aiming at reducing the risks to which this segment of the population is exposed. Materials and methods: This is a cross-sectional and qualitative study with 10 female adolescents aged 10 to 14 years old who are part of the group that attend the Young Territory, Vila Sabiá, in the municipality of Sorocaba, São Paulo, Brazil. Strategies were used to form a link with the adolescents. After this, previous knowledge about important concepts such as: oral health; bacterial plaque; brushing; floss; fluorine; gingival bleeding; oral piercing and bad breath were analyzed. Then, an intervention was promoted aimed to increase knowledge about the proposed topics to reduce the risks and damages to oral and general health of adolescents. Results and Conclusions: It is noticed that there was an incipient knowledge gain of the adolescents, and there is the need for a greater time of orientation to fix the contents, besides the greater use of the spaces that the territory offers to disseminate knowledge in oral health and to form a bond between dental professionals and the teenagers.